Allahabad High Court Directs State Government To Fill Vacancies In Real Estate Appellate Tribunal At The Earliest

The Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench, noted that there are vacancies for a Judicial Member, an Administrative Member, and a Technical Member in the UP Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (Tribunal) and directed the State Government to fill the said vacancies at the earliest. The Court passed the order in a writ petition that raised "important question as to the functioning of Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Appellate Tribunal where the process of law has come to a grinding halt", as recorded by the Court in a previous order.

The Court listed the matter for November 8 and directed the State Government to submit a report appraising the Court on how the sanctioned budget of the Tribunal is allotted as well as released, to ensure that the functioning of the Tribunal does not suffer on account of unavailability of three members.

“The State Government is also directed to apprise the Court as to the manner in which the sanctioned budget is allocated and released to the Tribunal so that functioning of the Tribunal does not suffer on that count”, the Bench comprising Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Om Prakash Shukla observed.

Advocate Aahuti Agarwal appeared for the Petitioners, and Additional Chief Standing Counsel Prakhar Mishra with Advocate Shobhit Mohan Shukla appeared for the Respondents.

The Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Appellate Tribunal was formed by the State but became defunct due to the unavailability of a Judicial Member, an Administrative Member, and a Technical Member. To activate the functioning of the Tribunal, benches needed to be constituted as per Section 43(3) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. The Court had previously allowed the Petitioner to withdraw their writ petition with the liberty to avail the alternative remedy under section 43 read with section 44 of the Act.

The Court took note of an application for an extension of time filed by the Petitioner and ordered that the Tribunal's functioning under such circumstances cannot be left unattended. The Court referred to the relevant rules for the appointment of members to the Tribunal and urged the Selection Committee to take action following the law.

Additionally, the Court observed that the State Government has proposed an action under Section 49(1)(e) of the Act. The Court directed the State to make the appointments at the earliest. The statutory committee prescribed under the Act may endeavor to proceed with the selection of an Administrative Member as well as a Technical Member in the meantime, the Court asserted.

“In the present case, the State Government has proposed an action under Section 49(1)(e) of Act, 2016. It is certainly a situation other than the temporary vacancy and the procedure for appointment is bound to follow as per the mandate of Section 52 extracted above… We also take note of the fact that the Technical Member who has also retired recently on 26.09.2023 is also to be filled up as per the procedure prescribed. It is informed that a request for constituting of the search committee has been forwarded to this Court so that necessary steps for selection of the Technical Member are also proceeded with and the selection made as per the procedure prescribed under law”, the Bench noted.

Furthermore, the Court directed to not allocate funds to the State Government as per the sanctioned budget which goes to effect the smooth functioning of the Tribunal in terms of payment of salary to the staff and otherwise. The Court also instructed the State Government o apprise the Court as to how the sanctioned budget is allocated and released to the Tribunal so that the functioning of the Tribunal does not suffer on that count.

Accordingly, the Court listed the matter for November 8.

Cause Title: M/S Alpha Corp Development Pvt. Ltd. v State Of U.P. [Thru. Prin. Secy. Housing And Urban Planning Deptt. Govt. Of U.P. Lko] And Others

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